Melt With You
by onyourleft126
Summary: Jack Frost visits an old friend. He hasn't aged a day, but she's grown into a beautiful, fearless queen. As a child, young Elsa used to need her Guardian friend, but now, reunited after all these years, he might be the one who needs her. Can true love really thaw a frozen heart? Perhaps if you find the one person worth melting for. This fic comes with a playlist, too! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

She was standing at the balcony, gazing out across her kingdom, when he saw her. She was regal, poised, yet with an aura that indicated all the power of a blizzard in a bottle. Hair in a long braid over her shoulder, like snow under starlight. And her eyes- blue, like ice, like a winter sky, like a fleeting nuance of the Aurora. As he descended on the wind to get a better look at her, she looked up.

She could always see him. She didn't have to be told he was there.

He was a new spirit in an old world. She was a young queen with nothing standing in her way. And it had been far too long since any of them had seen one another.

"Jack," she whispered.

"Elsa?" His eyes grew wide. "You can see me again."

He sank to eye level with her, and the tears came to Elsa's eyes.

"It's been too long," she said.

"Five years," he agreed.

"But you haven't changed." And she knew that he never would, but it was still strange to her that he was exactly the way she remembered him, even after all these years. Same blue eyes, same snowstorm hair.

"And you, Elsa, you've changed so much," he said, looking her up and down. "You've grown up."

She pursed her lips. "That's what happened while you were gone for five years."

Jack settled on the rail and leaned on his staff, smiling disarmingly. "You're still not mad about that, are you?" When she didn't respond, his eyes grew wide. "Are you?"

Elsa said nothing. The memories had come rushing back to her, a confusing mix of pain and joy. How she would have been lonely and desolate behind the locked door of her bedroom, if not for the mischievous boy who had appeared at her window. How he gently smiled at her, blew snowflakes to her, took her tiny hands and showed her that her powers were nothing to be afraid of. How Jack had guided her throughout the years to control her abilities—how they'd come _so close_ to nailing it—

How he left her one spring, confident she could handle herself, saying he'd be back after he saw the rest of the world out there. How she waved him goodbye, a young girl no more than seventeen years old. How a terrible storm took her parents away from her, orphaning her and her sister…

"I came back right after the funeral," Jack insisted now. "You just…couldn't see me anymore."

"So you left?" she said, her voice small.

"I did. I did, I left, I'm sorry Elsa—but I'm back now." Before he knew what he was doing he'd lifted off the rail and was clutching both her hands in his. "I gave up on you. I'm sorry."

She looked up at him. "I was scared after my parents died. For the longest time, the fear was all there was…" Elsa bit her lip. "I gave up on you, too. I'm sorry, Jack."

He grinned in relief. "I'm just glad you can see me again."

Elsa let out her breath in a chuckle. "So am I!"

They embraced, and the feeling of her body against his made Jack nearly jump in surprise. It had been so long that he'd forgotten that she could feel him, too.

_She can feel me,_ he thought. _And I can feel her._

"I'm glad you're back, Jack," Elsa said when they broke apart. "Would you like to come inside?"

"Oh," said Jack, thinking of large uncomfortable rooms and thick walls. "No, I _…_shouldn't..."

"Come on," Elsa said, laughing. "There's someone I want you to meet."

_I simply must go  
Baby, it's cold outside  
So thanks for the show  
But, baby, it's cold outside  
The welcome has been  
How lucky that you dropped in  
So nice and warm  
Look out the window at that storm_


	2. Chapter 2

Anna believed her willingly, as Elsa knew she would. And more importantly, she took a liking to Jack. Her bubbly energy matched his youthful vigor, and Elsa watched them converse rapidly, pleased that they were getting along. Anna was thrilled.

Elsa expected Kristoff, Anna's boyfriend, to be much harder to convince- but having been raised by trolls all his life, this wasn't much of a surprise to him. Their snowman friend Olaf was never a question. Being made of snow and ice, he could always see Jack. Beyond Olaf, nobody else could see Jack. The people of Arendelle had accepted their new queen's powers; but it would be a completely different thing to accept, or even believe, in the flying boy who could control the weather. Anna tried a social experiment, more than once; conversing with Jack in plain sight of passers-by. Each and every one asked her who she thought she was talking to.

"I'm sorry, Jack," she said, after the tenth time it happened (the lady had left briskly, dragging her puzzled son along behind her in a hurry.) "It's going to take a hundred years for these people to get used to _this _idea…"

Jack only nodded numbly. These people, and everyone else.

"Tell me something, Elsa," he asked her afterward. "How did you finally manage to control your powers?"

"Well…of course I never forgot the things you taught me, but it did take some troll magic, a surprise marriage announcement and a winter curse." she replied, "In the end, Anna helped me find it. It was her sacrifice that showed me the answer was very simple."

"Well?" Jack said impatiently. "What is it?"

Elsa smiled. "Love."

Then she glided away to examine some royal documents.

Jack watched her go, marveling, not for the first or the last time, at how much she had changed.

_I must stop thinking of her as the vulnerable little girl she used to be…that just isn't her anymore, _he reminded himself. _She's grown up, beautiful and powerful, and she learned to control her abilities without me…She doesn't need me._

_But if that's the case, why can she still see me?_

He flitted in and out of her life over the following year, staying longer every time he came, making her laugh and toss snowballs at him with a determined savvy that he loved to watch. And she fell for him. She couldn't help it. All her life she'd never even begun to entertain the thought of it, of falling for someone, and yet here she was. Like crashing through thin ice into the murky blue below and not feeling cold, but warmth, warmth, _warmth_, spreading across her body like the gentlest of candle flames.

It was the same feeling she felt when she'd broken the winter curse on Arendelle, sending her magic scattering across the sky in bursts of sparkling white. That was how she knew it was love, and not just a silly infatuation attached to reuniting with the boy who'd been her only friend for years; who knew what it felt like to be lonely, isolated, misunderstood. Well, yes; those things were part of it. But although Elsa couldn't quite place it, she knew there was more. So much more.

Anna noticed, of course. How could she not have?

"If you like him," she said one day, "you should let him know."

Elsa almost dropped the royal seal she was holding. "What? Who?"

"Oh, you know who," wheedled her sister. "Jack!"

"I certainly like him," said Elsa, "but not in the way you're implying." She formed a snowball out of thin air and tossed it playfully at Anna. The other princess, used to this behavior by now, dodged it easily.

"You nearly dropped that seal, Elsa, and I know you don't drop anything," she continued. "Now winter will be here in a few weeks, and Jack is coming along with it. You should let him know. Before he leaves again."

"And what would I say?"

Anna shrugged. "Ask him to stay?"

Elsa laughed dryly. "I can't tell Jack what to do."

"But you can tell him how you feel."

_Can I? _

She didn't have to.

_This is my winter song. _

_December never felt so wrong, _

_cause you're not where you belong; _

_inside my arms. _

_This is my winter song to you. _

_The storm is coming soon _

_it rolls in from the sea. _

_My love a beacon in the night. _

_My words will be your light _

_to carry you to me. _

_Is love alive? _

_Is love alive? _


	3. Chapter 3

Winter brought him back to her. Or had he been the one to bring winter to Arendelle? In any case, there he was, on her balcony as before. Even then, he hadn't changed. Not a single bit.

"Jack!" Elsa exclaimed. "I'm so glad you're back." She caught herself, returning to her usual composed state. But Jack was quick to notice her excitement, and he smiled.

"Come on," he said, holding a hand out to her. "Light show starts in half an hour."

Elsa knew what he meant at once. "But the Aurora usually doesn't appear till 11 PM. We're three hours too-"

"Let's just say," said Jack, interrupting the queen, "that I know someone who can switch it on early. Just for us."

Elsa was ready to doubt him. But just this once, she let it go. "Well, okay. I'll call Anna-"

"Um." Jack said. "I was thinking it would be just you and me, you know?" Even his pale skin couldn't hide the fierce blush making its way up his neck.

Inside, Elsa felt the familiar glowing, candlelight sensation. But outside, she merely smiled.

"Okay," she said. "That's good too."

They flew over her kingdom, the chill wind blowing their snowy hair every which way, making Elsa gasp in delight at her first taste of flight. They made their own frozen patch in the middle of the fjord- his wayward, curling, floral patterns, her angular, geometrical, perfectly symmetrical shapes, integrating in a stunning fusion of order and spontaneity. They sat in the center and tilted their heads up at the starry sky.

"Jack, if this 'friend' of yours doesn't turn on the Northern Lights..." Elsa teased.

"Just be patient," Jack said. "This guy's fairly punctual." At his words, the sky exploded into a stunning miasma of hues, a shimmering sky-ocean of colors both vibrant and subtle, humming as if to an invisible music, pulsing as if to a beat that no one could hear.

Elsa had seen these lights over her kingdom ever since she was a child. But now- next to Jack on this ice floe in the fjord- it felt hugely, oddly, exhilaratingly unique and different.

"The sky's awake," she whispered, and Jack, watching her, watching the colors reflect in her wide, beautiful eyes, watching them stain her pale hair with more colors than he could name, found himself thinking he'd never seen anything more lovely in his life.

When the sky finally darkened, neither of them felt like going back to the palace. They sat, leaning on each other, on their ice floe. Jack broke the silence.

"I can't really place it, but after all those years of flying all over the place...I feel like I belong here."

"I guessed as much," Elsa said evenly. "Arendelle's just about the only place where people can see you. Well, maybe not everyone, but still."

"Can I stay?"

Elsa smiled. "Of course, Jack. In fact, why did you ever want to leave?"

"I dunno, habit? The weird feeling that I had to look for something?" He shrugged. "Guess I found it. At least that's what my heart tells me."

"Then stick with it," she said. "Trust it. The head can be fickle, but the heart is not so easily changed."

Jack beamed. "You're a wise girl, Elsa."

"That's 'your majesty' to you," Elsa replied, laughing. "And I suppose I have to thank you, too." She squeezed his arm. "I'm not lonely anymore."

She was happy, which made Jack happy...but solemn, too, somehow. He looked down at his cold hands, which hadn't changed since he'd risen from the ice nearly two decades ago, suddenly realizing the one thing that drove a wedge between him and his snow queen.

Elsa was in her room, asleep. Jack didn't need sleep. He instead perched on the roof engaged in his favorite pastime- glaring at the moon.

"I don't want to be like this anymore," he said. "I don't want to care this much about people and just watch them grow old and leave me behind. I know Elsa and her family can see me now, and I should be happy, but...it's not the same. It's _just not the same_." He looked up. "She's a queen with a kingdom to rule. I'm just an invisible boy who doesn't mean anything! I've been this way for years—don't tell me I'll stay like this forever?"

The moon was silent.

Jack growled. "If you won't tell me who I was, then let me decide who to be. Let me be with her properly, let what I do _matter_. I know there's a reason she can see me again!"

There was no reply for a long while. Just as he was about to turn away, Jack felt the familiar wave of gentle light pulse over him.

_All in good time, Jack Frost. Remain with Elsa. You will need her. _

"I'll need _her? _What for?"

_You'll see... _

Jack sighed, and pulled his hood over his head. Patience.

_Here are my terms; have some faith in me _

_And I'll let you be who you need to be _

_Life on the moon couldn't be any stranger _

_Life on the moon wouldn't feel this far away_

_The life that I knew is through,_

_And I'm gonna need you more than ever_

_I'm alone in this crowded room,_

_It's like life on the moon_

(Two people in the middle of a freezing body of water? Sound familiar? 'I'll never let you go, Jack!')


	4. Chapter 4

That spring was the first time Jack attended a wedding- the noisiest, largest, most chocolate-stuffed one Arendelle had ever experienced. After all, one could expect no less from Anna and Kristoff's marriage.

After that was the first time Anna set foot outside the gates of Arendelle, as she and Kristoff left on their honeymoon to a sunlit kingdom by the sea. And that summer was the first time Elsa single-handedly and successfully forged an alliance with another nation; a tribe of Vikings from across the mountains.

It was the first time they danced, making patterns across the frozen courtyard as the glaring summer sun blazed above them. It was the first time they kissed. Tentatively, shyly at first, making each other hiccup with snowflakes after and then burst into laughter. He took her breath away before she even had time to catch it, and all either of them felt was warmth, warmth, _warmth_, spreading between them like the gentlest of candle flames.

"What if somebody sees us?" Elsa giggled.

"What if somebody sees the Queen making out with an invisible boy?" Jack said. "No regrets, right?" He lifted off the ground a couple of inches and she took his hands, tugging him down again gently.

"Absolutely no regrets," she said before kissing him again.

And then—barely a year after- came the first time Elsa ever held a baby in her arms. She was scared at first-terrified that she might freeze him- but Anna insisted. He was small and soft, already born with a few thin wisps of hair, auburn like his mother's and grandfather's. Elsa held her nephew gently and loved him at once.

"I want one," she found herself saying aloud one evening, when only Jack was there to hear.

He was silent for a long while. "If we tried, it probably wouldn't work."

Elsa sighed. "No, I suppose it wouldn't."

That was the end of that conversation, but Elsa doubted if all the children she grew to love were always someone else's child.

One day she kissed him, and his reaction was unexpected. He pushed her away and gasped.

"Jack?"

"I can't breathe," he said. An odd sense of heaviness weighed him down. His knees buckled. "Or- I don't know- I'm breathing too much. It hurts."

Elsa tried not to panic. Already ice was streaking out across the floor where she stood.

"Jack, don't worry, I know where we have to go."

Kristoff and his reindeer took Elsa and Jack into the mountains, while Anna stayed home with the baby. To their surprise, Pabbie the head troll was already waiting for them.

"We need your help," Kristoff said desperately.

The troll nodded. "Yes, I knew you would come. The Moon has been speaking to me."

"The moon has been what now?" Jack said, suddenly alert.

"Kristoff, I'm sorry, but this matter concerns Elsa and Jack alone," Pabbie said. "We must speak somewhere more private..."

"How can you hear the Moon?"

"It's really not that hard for one magical being to speak to another," Pabbie said as they arrived at the seaside cliff. "And what the moon has told me is most extraordinary. He knew this would happen. Not just what you are experiencing, Jack, but everything- your meeting, your friendship..."

"It's more than that now " Elsa said.

"I figured," said Pabbie. "Elsa, do you remember what I told Anna not more than three years ago? About true love..."

The answer came to Elsa at once. "It will thaw a frozen heart."

"Yes. And that's exactly what is happening now." Pabbie folded his tiny grey hands. "Jack is thawing, becoming human again, because of your love for him. And the Man in the Moon knew only you could make it happen."

Elsa looked up at the glowing half-lemon overhead. "Only me?"

"Yes, you, the queen who ended a curse because she finally let herself love again," Pabbie said softly. "Anna was the key to helping you. And you...are the key to helping Jack. It is no coincidence that he was resurrected on the day you were born!"

Elsa and Jack looked at each other. "What?"

"Is this why she could see me from the beginning?" Jack said, trying to catch his breath. "The moon knew all along...that we would meet?"

Pabbie smiled. "Jack, you may sometimes feel like the moon has abandoned you, but he never did. You were reborn to guide Elsa to in controlling her powers, to help her battle fear and be her Guardian. For the Moon knew that somewhere out there was a young girl, scared of her own abilities, who would need you." He turned to Elsa. "Only you could see him. So only you could love him. But you could not learn to do that until Anna gave her life for you."

Elsa let out a cry of delight. "So technically, Anna saved everyone!"

"And it took you both a very long time to reunite and resolve things," Pabbie said, "but despite twists of fate and moments of doubt, you have found each other again. The Man in the Moon's plan pulls through. Jack, you will regain the life you once had."

"I had no idea it would hurt this much, though," Jack said uncomfortably.

"Yes, like all things, this comes at a price. No longer being a spirit means you will become mortal.

You will age, like everyone else. And you will eventually die, like everyone else." He paused. "You will also lose your powers."

At first Jack felt like protesting, like cursing at the moon for making it so unfair. But was it, really? All this time he thought that Elsa, lonely and afraid, was the one who needed him. But now that she had accepted her powers, perhaps he, isolated and unseen, needed her now...

"You'd still- still love me even if- I didn't have magic?" Jack asked, looking up at Elsa expectantly.

"Of course," Elsa said softly. "Powers or not, you would still be Jack Frost. Take away the magic, but leave the fun."

He grinned. "Then this isn't going to be as bad as Troll Guy makes it sound."

"Jack, there are some changes that you'll have to get used to," Pabbie later said. "It hurts more to live than it ever does to die. But...if you have each other...well I wouldn't be...too worried." He trailed off as Elsa and Jack started making out in front of him.

Pabbie shrugged. "Ah, you'll be all right."

_Well, you have suffered enough  
And warred with yourself  
It's time that you won_

_Take this sinking boat and point it home  
We've still got time  
Raise your hopeful voice, you have a choice  
You've made it now_

_Falling slowly sing your melody  
I'll sing it loud_

* * *

Ohey y'all! Well, it's just another chapter after this, and then an epilogue to wrap things up!

So, about this chapter. Well, what did you think? Hit me up in the comments to let me know, and hang tight for the full playlist after the epilogue. Then go and listen to all those songs on Spotify or something and sit in a corner and cry about this ship. That's one of my hobbies XD

Also, for those who follow this story and like Marvel fanfiction, do me a favor and check out _Not Another Iron Man Fanfiction, _which I'm trying to upload every day! Give it some love, and I will return the favor :)


	5. Chapter 5

The changes came gradually, not noticeably at first. For half a year or so both of them doubted, ever so slightly, if what Pabbie had said was true. But you can't spend so much time close to someone and not notice new things about them. When Jack held her hand, she noticed it was warm. When he stood next to her, she thought he'd grown taller.

And when she touched his face to kiss him, she felt the strangest thing beneath her fingers.

"This is weird," Jack said, when Elsa dragged him in front of the mirror to show him the stubble that had appeared on his jaw. "Does this really mean I'm getting older?"

"Yes, I suppose it does." Elsa put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Jack, you look fine."

That was the last thing Jack was worried about. In the snowy courtyard he joined Kristoff as he played with his son and Olaf. Little Agdar, named after Anna and Elsa's father, was already very noisy and very active, nearly on the verge of crawling. As snowflakes began to fall, Agdar stuck out his tongue trying to catch them, and Jack held out his hand.

A snowflake landed in his palm and began to melt before his very eyes.

"I'm losing it," he told Elsa later that night in her study. "The wind doesn't follow me anymore. Snow melts between my fingers. And..." A chill breeze blew in from an open window. Jack wrapped his arms around himself. "It's cold."

Elsa shut the window and guided Jack to the couch. She wrapped a blanket around him.

"Jack, I'm so sorry about your powers," she said. "You know, I almost didn't think you'd really lose them."

"I can get through this, Elsa. I'm gonna be fine." He smiled at her. "Some people are worth melting for."

Now it was Elsa's turn to smile. "Okay."

Outside the snow slashed through the darkening sky as Jack curled up beneath the blanket and leaned in closer to her, putting his head on her shoulder.

"Baby," he whispered, "it's cold outside."

He rounded out the family up very nicely, Elsa noticed, watching Jack make Anna laugh by the fireplace, as he held Agdar on his knee, as Kristoff strummed his lute softly. She noticed his movements had become less light and quick, more easy and relaxed. He couldn't fly like he used to, couldn't freeze anything he touched no matter how hard he tried, now he got tired and needed sleep like everyone else, and the long staff he always held on to was soon reduced to just that- a staff. But he was happy. Elsa thought she'd never seen him so happy.

They knew the change was final and real when the people of Arendelle started seeing him, too. Within the year that had passed since his last real thaw, Arendelle had officially accepted Jack as the queen's consort- and the children's favorite playmate. It had been a bittersweet experience for Jack as he'd bid goodbye to his magic and embraced real life.

"Auntie Elsa!" Agdar exclaimed, cutting through her happy thoughts. "Snow? Please?"

Elsa laughed. "All right, Agdar." She knelt next to him. "You ready?" The boy nodded vigorously.

"Watch this." Elsa formed a snowball above her hand and tossed it into the air, where it burst into fine, glittering powder. Agdar squealed in delight.

Anna laughed out loud. "That never gets old!"

"Uncle Jack, you do," Agdar said. His limited vocabulary apparently didn't prevent him from giving order like a prince.

Jack grinned. "Not anymore, kid, but your auntie's pretty darn magical enough for both of us."

"Jack, language!" Anna scolded teasingly.

Elsa watched her nephew play with Olaf in the snowdrift she'd created inside the room. Jack crossed the floor- walking, like a normal person would- and sat nearby her.

"You still want one?" he said tentatively.

Elsa looked up. "Do you think-?"

She'd pushed the thought away for so long, thinking that it was impossible and Anna would always have something she never could. But maybe...now, after Jack's return to mortality...

"Really?" She said.

He smiled. "It's worth a try."

_He said Sit back down where you belong _

_In the corner of my bar with your high heels on _

_Sit back down on the couch where we made love the first time _

_And you said to me _

_Somethin', somethin' about this place _

_Somethin', 'bout lonely nights and my lipstick on your face _

_Somethin', somethin' about my cool Nebraska guy _

_Yeah something about, baby, you and I _


	6. Epilogue

And as promised, ladies and gentlemen, here's your epilogue- the last thing that ties the whole story up!

* * *

Pabbie had warned Jack about aging and losing his powers, but he certainly couldn't have foreseen the memories returning.

It hit Jack almost like a sledgehammer one night- too intense and vivid and familiar to be a mere dream. A force of sensations and images that rushed into his mind, faces and places and sounds he knew deep down had encountered before. Laughter, firelight, snowy woods, crisp wind. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Not just his own, but his mother's...his sister's...

_Sister? _

Her brown eyes widening in fear as the ice cracked beneath his bare feet plunging him into the cold and the darkness below-

_"Jack!" _

He couldn't breathe. It was dim and empty and freezing and then all of a sudden...it wasn't. Above him, the moon glowed bright, and Jack gasped- air pushing through his lungs- rising into the sky and the stars and life-

_"Jack!" _

He opened his eyes and there she was. Skin and hair as pale as the moon itself.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked worriedly.

"I had a sister," Jack croaked. "I saved her."

"So you died...saving your sister?"

"Yes!"

"And the moon resurrected you?"

"Yup, exactly."

Elsa blinked. "If you were resurrected on the day I was born... Then this probably can't have been more than twenty-five years ago." She got out of their bed and started pacing the room, leaving patches of ice where she stepped.

Jack watched her. "Yeah, I suppose so?"

"So if that's the case, then your sister is still out there."

Jack's mouth dropped open. She's right.

"I have to find her," he said at once. "Go back to where I came from...where I was...I'm remembering it all now." He grabbed Elsa excitedly. "The Moon- he knew what he was doing all along!"

They held onto each other tightly, stupid happy with the possibilities that could be realized.

"We'll find your family, Jack," Elsa promised. "We'll find them." Jack nodded fiercely. He already considered their quest a success.

Now that fate had brought them together, there was nothing the two of them couldn't do.

_The future's open wide _

_I'll stop the world and melt with you _

_I've seen some changes but it's getting better all the time _

_There's nothing you and I won't do _

_I'll stop the world and melt with you _


	7. The Playlist! Yay!

**And as promised! Here is the full Jelsa playlist! Enjoy, and hope you liked the story :)**

1\. _Baby It's Cold Outside _\- version by Idina Menzel and Michael Buble  
2._ Let Her Go/Let It Go mashup_\- Sam Tsui (cover)  
3\. _Winter Song_\- Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson  
4._ Life on the Moon_\- David Cook  
5\. _Ours_\- Taylor Swift  
6._ Falling Slowly_\- Glen Hansard (from the motion picture Once)  
7\. _You and I_\- Lady Gaga  
8._ I Melt With You_\- Modern English  
9\. _The Only Exception_\- Paramore  
10\. _All You Need is Love_\- The Beatles


End file.
